Gaara
by The Masked Idiot
Summary: If Naruto is called Naruto because Naruto is the main character, then this story will be called Gaara since he is the main character here. This is the Kazekage arc from Gaara's POV.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**A/N: This was a story request from ilovemyboys about the Kazekage arc from Gaara's POV. As a note, Deidara is "she" because according to the manga, Gaara doesn't realize that he's male at the beginning. Also, since I think that this might become an issue, yes, it is extremely similar to the original scenes. Like I said before, it's because it's the same scene as canon, just played from a different POV.**

* * *

Gaara leaned against the back of his chair, the warm glow of the setting sun shining into his office. Everything was quiet, save the gusting wind outside which was busy picking up loose sand. He slid his green eyes over to look outside one of the many circular windows in the room, regarding the tall cliffs behind the roofs of various sand-coloured buildings.

As he observed the village, Gaara realized something odd. In the dimming orange sky, there was a bird that he had never seen before.

_What is that? Could it be that the Akatsuki, like how Jiraiya warned, have come? A spy? _

Gaara stood up, and walked towards the rack that held his standard Sand uniform. He wouldn't take any chances; it would be best to prepare for the worst.

The Kazekage dressed quickly, and then strapped his gourd onto his back. He glanced around his quickly darkening office once more, and then left, shutting the door quietly behind him. The halls of the building were deserted, with the shinobi either having all gone home, or still working inside their offices. As it was, away from the sounds of the wind now, it was quiet.

Climbing the stairs, Gaara heard a faint explosion. Perhaps it was only his imagination, but he knew better; the attack had begun. It was already dark by the time he was on the roof. He stepped onto the roof just in time to see a blond haired person leap off the strange bird from before and land on the roof as well.

"Infiltration success," muttered the stranger, head bowed. Taking that opportunity, Gaara immediately flashed silently, towering over the infiltrator.

_Red clouds on a black coat... this is definitely the Akatsuki. But to attack so soon..._

The blond Akatsuki member's visible eye widened slightly as she looked up, meeting Gaara's stony stare. The wind blew loudly, and Gaara tilted his head down to look directly at the infiltrator.

"That's as far as you go," he informed, expression not changing. He doubted that the person would comply. Gaara could see the blonds' strange white bird, circling above them. He would have to keep an eye out for it.

The other smirked, and Gaara could feel himself tense slightly, preparing for a possible attack.

"Oh?" The Akatsuki member got up. Gaara was not sure, but he could guess that this was a woman.

Swiftly, the blond reached behind and shoved her hands into a beige pouch connected to her side by a belt. At the same time, Gaara began to send sand towards her, not taking any chances. This person was dangerous. What was she trying to do?

The sand rose and swirled around the Akatsuki member quickly before constricting itself. The person simply leaped up high into the air though, landing on the strange bird from before. To Gaara, the bird did not seem like a summon, but rather something else. The foreign animal ascended quickly. Reacting just as fast, the sand shot up directly behind it, poised to pierce if he were able to catch the intruder.

The bird swerved all around, all the while gaining altitude. The kazekage brandished his arm left and then up, commanding the sand to do so as well. The white bird was getting further now, and soon Gaara would have to rise as well in order to not lose sight of the enemy.

He was sure that the intruder was not trying to escape; her bird's course wasn't towards the desert out of Sunagakure. That could mean either she was a long distance fighter as well, or was buying time.

_I should capture her quickly._

The sand roared loudly past him, continuing its onslaught towards the intruder. As if attempting to make a escape, the flying white dot in the distance turned and began soaring towards and over the outskirts of Sunagakure. Even if she were trying to escape though, Gaara would not allow it. They may - will - come back after all, in the future.

Urging the sand forward even more quickly, he was soon able to block the Akatsuki member's path and turn him back towards the village. Successful at preventing her escape, the red haired shinobi leaped up and after being caught by his sand, zoomed forwards and up to gain a better view of his enemy. Said enemy suddenly dove down and began weaving through the streets down below, in an attempt to lose the sand.

_This isn't getting anywhere._

With that though in mind, Gaara sent part of his sand into another street; one that directly intercepted the street that the stranger was currently flying though. He was able to accomplish his goal of driving the intruder back out of the streets and into the air. He did not know the other's abilities and even if he did, it would be dangerous to the inhabitants if a fight were to break out down in the streets.

His sand continued its three pronged assault on the returning enemy, forcing her back towards the center of the village and into Gaara's path. Gaara himself zoomed forwards, standing on his sand some ways below the revolving enemy. Gaara watched her, anticipating her next move. What were the intruder's abilities?

The Akatsuki member stopped soon enough, and Gaara's sand stayed where they were, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Both opposing side stared at each other, one with a smirk on her face while the other was looking on impassively.

_She raised her hand in front of her... is she attempting a technique?_

"I gotta say, you noticed me pretty quickly, yeah," admitted the blond, looking down at the kazekage with her ever-present smirk.

_It's obvious to me. _"In this desert, there is no such bird that looks like that," replied Gaara the wind whistling past his ears.

"I see... heh, seems like my sneaking in was a failure, hm. Although thanks to that, I don't need to search for you, yeah," remarked the man, for now Gaara could tell that the intruder was a male.

In response, Gaara raised his arms. A loud roar made its way to both of them, almost instantly followed by the source of the sound; a wave of sand, towering above both of them and stretching far in all directions, rose up behind Gaara. The blond let out what seemed to be a shocked gasp as he beheld the sight.

_To attack here... Too bad for you. I have the geographical advantage; this entire desert is my weapon. _

The man murmured something to himself, his smirk back in place as he continued regarding both the red haired shinobi and the wall of sand behind him. Gaara caught a flash of white come out onto his hands, and quickly sent the sand dashing towards him. Slowly, his sand took the shape of a arm; Shukaku's arm.

Sand swirled and hovered around the kazekage, ready to provide support. The hand grabbed at him, but just before it could clench down, the white things from the intruder were enlarged and thrown towards the hand. Next thing that happened was a loud, resounding "boom" as sand flew everywhere, dispersing the sand arm into parts.

_I had made sure that it would avoid where he threw the white things... but it seems that he used an unusual exploding object... and it's also a homing type. No matter..._

Out of the broken arm, two more grew, leaving a total of three large sand arms twisting and chasing the intruder. From his other hand, he tossed down three more, each one attacking a sandy limb as well. Not missing a beat though, Gaara quickly reformed them.

_If this is all he can do... No, I doubt that. _

His sand continued in their relentless pursuit from all directions, trying to catch the enemy that was darting around. They would always grasp, but miss by a bare meter. With his eyes, Gaara could make out two more object being thrown out by the man. These two grew larger and weaved through the claws of his sand and continued zipping towards Gaara.

_These are faster. Not all of his explosives are at the same speed. Would that mean that these have a stronger explosive power, as well? _

He knew that his sand would not intercept the speeding explosives in time, and settled for the next best thing. Crossing his arms downwards, the sand circling him quickly rose up and wove around him, joined by the sand from his gourd. At the same time, he managed to make his third eye. Not a moment afterwards, the two explosive bird crashed against his defense and exploded nosily, sending slight tremors through the now spherical wall.

Knowing that the enemy would be distracted, trying to see if his explosives had hit home, Gaara took advantage of this; the sand silently spread out and merged into one gigantic claw that quickly closed in on the man.

With his third eye, he could see the smoke dispersing around his sphere to show it unscathed. To the front, he could see his sand looming over the figure, nearly completely surrounding the enemy. The thick strands of sand would continue their quick crawl until the enemy was captured.

He was dimly aware of Kankuro and other sand jounin watching from the roof of one of the buildings.

_What are you doing, Kankuro? You need to prepare everyone for the worst and secure the village. There may be more enemies. _

"Desert prison," named Gaara, as the attack closed in on its victim.

He could hear the roaring of the sand from within his dark defense, and could see the enemy being trapped with his third eye. Soon enough, the sand had wrapped it way all around the infiltrator, providing no simple means of escape. In the place of where the blond once was, was a giant sand prison, larger than Gaara's own current sphere of defense. He continued observing, the smoke and sand settling now.

_Did I get him...? No... it's not over yet._

As if on cue, an explosion sounded, and out from the bottom of the sphere, a figure bearing red clouds on a black robe burst out, his blond hair waving wildly behind him as he fell. The sand continued clambering and crawling over each other, though only able to grasp the black smoke from the explosion.

_You will not escape._

A chunk of sand detached itself from the failed cage and chased after the blond, faster than the falling human. The sand did not let down Gaara's expectations, and caught on to the man's leg. It gripped on tightly and swayed, flinging the helpless Akatsuki member back towards the larger ball of sand. Said sand opened up its jaws, prepared to swallow the victim back up.

It let go, allowing the momentum to keep the blond on course. To his dismay though, the man had quickly tossed two explosives; one to play the role of being caught by the sand, and the other for enemy to land on and fly away.

_I shouldn't have let go... no, the correct thing to have done should have been to crush his leg, and make it more difficult for him to evade future attacks. _

The giant clump of sand opened up once more like a deadly flower, it's sharp petals shooting out to give chase once more. Gaara knew from experience though, that just normal sand may not be enough. That was why he had allowed the part of his defense that had his special, gourd sand to join the chase. Not only would it be fast enough to catch the intruder, but it had more power as well.

The blond rose higher and higher on his bird - which Gaara could assume was also an explosive - and swerved this way and that, always evading the pillars of sand. Gaara was not worried about that though; he knew that he would catch him.

Where his larger, normal sand failed him and missed, his gourd sand did not. It continued chasing, gaining on the blond at every second. Deciding not to waste his chakra, Gaara let the normal stand on standby and focused on just his special sand for now.

The blond would swoop, spin, jerk, and spiral in its attempts to dodge but to no avail. Gaara's sand had finally reached him. He couldn't see the enemy's face clearly, but he could guess that he was surprised at being caught. He didn't give up though, and kept flying up higher, trying to get the sand off.

_It's no use. _

Gaara reached out a hand and peered out from his shell at the blond. As his hand rose, so did the sand. It continued to crawl up, higher and higher along the Akatsuki member's arm. In another attempt to free himself, he threw down a large white centipede, which crawled down the sand and towards the center of the long bindings.

Placing his hands in a tiger seal, he said something and the centipede exploded.

_That won't work. This sand is not like normal sand. You will be caught, one way or another. _

True to his thoughts, nothing happened to the sand. Gaara narrowed his eyes, watching the arm that his sand had caught, carefully.

_Last time, I made the mistake of not crushing your leg. I will not make the same mistake this time. Desert coffin._

He clenched his outstretched hand. He could feel through the sand, the blood that had spurted out of the now useless arm that he had crushed. In the distance, past the howling wind, he could hear almost all of the village celebrating from below. He ignored it though; the battle was not over.

Maybe it was from the shock of having his arm crushed, or for some other reason, but the infiltrator began a wobbly descent downwards, his head turned slightly to look at the sand grasping his destroyed arm.

_What? My sand isn't holding him anymore._

As the enemy began to ascend again, Gaara could figure out what had happened now.

_He ripped his own arm off... We're enemy's but I respect him for having the courage to rip his own arm off in order to escape. Although now, I failed and let him escape. _

Slowly, he withdrew his arm, green eyes never leaving the blond man. The stranger inclined his head slightly, and for a moment, the two of them met eyes. Gaara had a slightly uneasy feeling about what would happen next. The wind continued to gust, blowing sand and the smell of smoke all around.

_I'm giving him too much time to think of a plan. I need to end this quickly before he comes up with a strategy. _

His gourd sand shot up from their idle position below, aiming to spear through the white bird above it. From where he was, the red haired shinobi could see his enemy shoving their arm into a pouch once more. Most likely to prepare his next attack. What could the Akatsuki member have in mind? He sent his sand down again, only for it to be avoided just like previously.

He was flying around again; had he come up with a plan? Was Gaara too slow? He could just make out his opponent holding something white. It was larger than the previous creations, and Gaara sincerely hoped that it had already been enlarged.

The village was silent now, everyone waiting for the next thing that would happen. The blond had risen higher into the air, nearly skimming the bottom of the clouds.

_He's trying something... what, though? This is bad; he seems confident. Whatever he is trying to do... I need to prevent it. It's no longer only going to affect me, now._

His ultimate defense sand sped down towards the bird in a straight yet wrangled path. Missing again, he continued. Up went his sand, to the right went the enemy. Down went his sand, to the left went the enemy. The pattern continued, as if the kazekage's luck and speed had run dry, and could no longer catch the threat. There was no satisfying crash of sand against human, but rather the "whoosh" of it missing. Every time, it would miss.

Was it because he was too far away from the target to properly aim? The sphere he was residing in began to move as well, zooming closer to his enemy, next to his shower of special sand. The enemy swerved the other way, and soon it became a game of tag. The shouts and yells of encouragement had started up again. Though it warmed the red haired shinobi's heart slightly, it also strengthened his resolve to win; such a threat could not be allowed to go uncaught and possibly harm Sunagakure.

Gaara glimpsed down as he dove to try to get closer to the enemy again.

_Good... they're preparing and securing the village. Are they also... trying to help me?_

He quickly slid his eyes back to lock on his target. At this distance, he could clearly see that what the blond was holding was exceedingly different from the previous explosives. The blond muttered something too quietly for Gaara to hear. What he said after wards though, was crystal clear.

"That's it, I'm going to destroy this town, yeah. I would be in such a bad mood if I were stopped from below. That and I'm sick of your having to look at your impassive face," smirked the blond.

The clay figure from his hand floated out and stopped directly between Gaara and him.

_What is that... wait... no, that's an explosive, and by its positioning...! Sungakure is danger. Was this his plan? A full scale attack?_

Gaara's eyes visibly widened and his mouth gaped open as the object expanded with a puff of smoke, the moon casting ominous shadows all over it as it loomed over his height, it's large wings outstretched. Suddenly, it began to drop, picking up speed at every moment, accompanied with a strange mix of a screech, whistle, and some mechanical sounding bird.

He watched it fall, getting faster and faster. A half formed comet tail began to appear, and that was when Gaara snapped out of it, panicking.

_No!_

As quickly as he could, he mustered up the remainder of his chakra to force all the sand he had at his disposal under the bomb, just as his enemy put his hands together in a tiger seal and screamed, "katsu!" He couldn't tell whether or not he was able to fully protect the village, as the smoke and sand was obscuring his view, as well as the blindingly bright flash of light accompanied by one of the loudest explosions he had ever heard.

_Was I too late? _

The explosion continued to grow, covering any other sounds. Either way; even if he hadn't made it to stop the full brunt of the explosion, he had to focus on at least stopping the rest of it. Panting, he focused whatever chakra he had left to make sure that the sand would take all of the blast. When the explosion finally disappeared, to say that Gaara was relieved that he had made it was an understatement.

The sand had prevented everything, leaving the village with barely - if not no - damage. He knew that his troubles weren't over yet though; he had to move the sand out of the way now, so that it wouldn't all collapse on the villagers.

_I'm nearly out of chakra... I have enough to move the sand away, though..._

"Hm...!?" grunted the kazekage in surprise.

Sliding his eyes over quickly to look at his left, he saw a white bird hovering just outside of his defense, next to his face. He knew that moving the normal sand wouldn't be fast enough to block, leaving him with his ultimate defense sand. Shifting the sand from the rest of his sphere would no doubt make it weaker, and allow the explosion to break through.

The shell shuddered violently. Luckily though, his sand had reached Gaara in time to shield him from the explosive power. It had been close; a little later, and he would have gotten hit. Although he could feel his chakra draining, just by making that sand move so quickly to his aid. He gasped for air, breathing in the scent of sand.

The sound of sand shifting alerted Gaara, and he straightened up. His eyes wide, he stared at the sand in front of him, where the sound originated from. Sand began to leak out from tiny holes. Upon closer inspection, he could see...

_What is that...! I see... so this was his real plan all along. This is bad. _

"Tch... Sh-!" Gaara took a futile step back and commanded whatever sand that was surrounding him to block the explosion. As he was low on chakra, and the explosives were directly in front of him, he didn't make it.

The next thing he knew, he could see the blinding light of the explosion in front of him, accompanied by pain from all sides, no doubt the result of the explosion being reflected by the sand.

Maybe it was from the shock of such a close explosion, or maybe it was because of his lack of chakra. Either way though, sand began to pour out of the multiple cracks in the slowly collapsing shell. Was that Kankuro who just yelled his name? He wasn't sure; Gaara was too busy trying to keep conscious.

Even with his eyes closed, he knew that his armour of sand had been nearly completely destroyed, and that his shield of sand was slowly loosening. Perhaps not as slow as he thought though; a entire section near the bottom had just fallen, letting in a gush of the cold desert air. As if triggering a chain reaction, more pieces began to fall down, piece by piece until all that was left was fine sand slowly cascading down his hunched over body, and the platform of sand that he stood on.

_The sand... I still have to move it... away from the village._

Even opening one eye took effort. How on earth was he going to successfully move all that sand? He had to though; as kazekage, he had to protect his village at all costs. Gasping for air, he check if his arms still worked. When he produced a twitch, he knew that it did. If the Akatsuki member was closing in on him now, he didn't notice. Nothing matter at the moment except for keeping Sunagakure safe.

He lifted a shaking arm up, against the pressure of the water fall of sand and clenched his fist. Just a bit longer... He just needed long enough to move the sand away.

Through hazy eyes, he could see the sand beneath him shudder and begin to move ever so slowly away, towards the outskirts of the village. He could hear the wind clearly now that the rain of sand had receded enough to leave his ears exposed.

_Almost... Almost..._

He grunted and kept on clenching and unclenching his hand, willing the sand to move. His breaths were shaky and his muscles were tired. He opened both eyes now, and watched the sand intently.

_This sand... It's a double edged sword... once you run out of chakra... What is that? Am I hearing explosions? No... I don't think he has enough explosives to create so much, still..._

He pushed away his fear of the blond attacking the village, and concentrated on his current task. A bit more... just a bit more... His head was pounding and his eyes were just begging him to let them close. At last though, the tip of the pile of sand had made it outside. A few more seconds, and it would be over; the sand could fall.

He clenched his fist harder, and grit his teeth. Ten more seconds... Five... Zero. The sand had made it over the borders of the village. The kazekage loosened his shoulders and his hand opened limply. In response, the sand fell outside with a thunderous "thump".

_It's over... the village is safe... No, I shouldn't be relieved... I'm out of chakra; I wouldn't be able to protect them if Akatsuki attacked again, now. I can't... I can't fall unconscious... I... _

Gaara's eyes drooped and his body bent over as the rest of the sand slid off. Only a few clumps clung on. With nothing to hold him up, he began tumbling towards the ground. The wind whistled by his limp body. He wasn't sure what happened next, except that he couldn't see, hear, touch, smell, or taste anything. He couldn't think.

* * *

Gaara found himself sitting in front of a tall fence, with the desert all around him. He knew what was behind it, the moment he laid eyes on it.

"Shukaku," he stated quietly to himself.

"Hey, hey! If it isn't you! Come closer, come on, let's party, eh! I haven't done that in a long time! I need to kill someone; it's been years!" screeched the one tail, prancing around behind the fence, all the while staring hungrily at Gaara.

The red haired shinobi didn't reply, opting to simply fix the crazed tanuki with a stare.

"You heard me, come on! I want to get out, like three years ago! There's no one to destroy here, and you won't do it for me anymore," Shukaku complained.

"Can you wake me up," demanded Gaara.

"You're sleeping? Sweet!" he proceeded to slam against the fence, only to realize that it couldn't get out.

"I'm gonna kill you, liar!" he howled.

"I am unconscious. We will die if I don't wake up," informed Gaara, staring at the raging monster impassively, arms crossed. He wasn't technically lying; it was very possible, at the moment.

"You got beat? AHAHA that's why you should have let me out! But you have a point; I didn't kill anyone yet! Get out!" he cackled, and the kazekage felt himself fade out again.

* * *

He wasn't sure how long he was out for, but he knew that it wasn't just a short one-second blankness. He couldn't move, and he could just barely hear things. He wasn't sure whether or not what he was hearing was real, though. He would hear two voices; one slightly familiar, one completely new. One voice was harder to discern, as the voice was so deep and low. They didn't talk often, but when they did, he could only hear parts or mumbling.

"...explosion, hm!"

"You still... lasting..."

This would go on for awhile, and usually ended with one of them attacking the other, if the louder voices and shaking of wherever he was laying down, was any indication. He never found it in him to try and figure out what they were talking about. Whenever Gaara heard the word "explosion" though, he would honestly try his hardest to figure out what they were talking about.

It was cold when he was able to hear the voices. He could assume from there that it was either night time, or he had been unconscious for a long time. All the while though, there was one thing that never stopped; the howling of the desert wind.

He knew it was futile to try escaping from wherever he was, at his current state. Not even having the strength to open his eyes, least get up and flee. Sometime later though, he heard a different voice call out loud and clear.

"Wait!"

After that, everything had sounded mumbled to Gaara. He recalled hearing his name being said though, and he remembered who the voice belonged to.

_Kankuro... why did you come here? Now that I'm not in Sunagakure, you have to help them. _

"Deidara, go ... ahead"

Deidara was the name of one of them.

Following that, were the mumbling overlapping with the wind again. Deidara, as his name was that, presumably leaped onto whatever I was currently on.

"Alright, we're going on ahead, yeah."

There was mumbling again, and a new noise. He couldn't tell what the sound was, but it didn't matter; he was getting farther away from it anyways. It was quiet for a while, and soon enough, the cold was replaced by the heat of the sun blazing down. Surprisingly enough, he could hear everything properly now. A quick twitch of his finger proved that he could also move.

He wasn't sure whether or not he had enough chakra, but if he did... He would have to g about it silently.

If he were to escape, now would be the best time. He had faith that Kankuro had delayed the other man, long enough for him to escape. If he had to be honest though, he was also worried for his brother's sake.

His finger jerked, and with it, some of the sand from his armour of sand. As they continued traveling, Gaara began to mix and infuse what chakra he had left with the desert sand through his armour of sand.

_This is enough._

Slowly, he opened an eye and glanced to his right. The sun was blindingly bright and at first, he couldn't see anything. After a few more seconds though, his vision cleared and he could see the form of a person sitting on top of something white, connected to whatever was holding Gaara up. That would mean that he was being carried by a bird.

He jerked his finger up, and sand began to slither up the side of the bird, slowly and silently.

_Keep your breathing steady... I can't raise suspicion. _

By now, a whole glob of sand was directly behind Deidara. If he could just do this... His finger twitched again, and the sand sprung up and wrapped itself around the blond.

"Guh!" Deidara exclaimed, surprised. He brought up both hands to his neck, where the sand was and began to pull at it.

_Dessert coffin._

The kazekage clenched his hand as quickly as he could, watching the man thrash as his sand compressed and broke his neck with a crackling crunch. Gaara could have sighed with relief if he weren't gasping for air. Just that much had completely drained him of whatever chakra he had left. He closed his eyes, breathing. To his horror though, he heard the tell tale "poof" and smelt the smoke. He didn't have to open his eyes again to realize what had happened.

"Nice try, jinchuuriki. But just because I lost an arm, and you were unconscious, doesn't mean I'm not alert, yeah," stated a familiar, not-so-dead sounding voice.

Even without opening his eyes, he could tell that Deidara was not dead. What he could tell though, was that his conscious was fading away again. His chance had failed.

* * *

**A/N: This is a two shot, a second chapter will be up shortly. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

The next time he regained even partial consciousness, all he could hear was shuffling. Or were they mutters? He couldn't tell. He didn't know how, but this time, he could tell that this was the end; this would be the last time he would ever have even this much awareness. He could feel himself sliding down something rough, and then coming to a stop on something damp and cold.

_Did we stop traveling? Why, though... _

He couldn't hear very well, but he could feel the tremors coming up near him from almost all sides. There were also tiny particles that ticked his skin. He didn't sneeze though; the particles were similar to sand and dust.

Gaara was never frightened. There was simply nothing to frighten him. The closest he had ever felt to that, was when Deidara had nearly destroyed the village. Now, he still wasn't frightened. He was terror stricken.

_Why? Why am I feeling like this now? Is it because my life is being threatened... no, if that were the case, I would have felt this way a long time ago. Perhaps... It's because I can't move. What is towering over me? What's happening?_

In the end, he decided that the most plausible reason for his fear was because of the atmosphere, and the fact that he felt helpless. Also because of the chakra pressing down on all sides; it was a mix of something strange, mysterious, and overpowering. He could feel, deep inside, that Shukaku was thrashing around, growing restless.

Suddenly, he could feel a large amount of chakra coming near him. It was immensely so, and Gaara could feel the pressure increase the closer it came. Shukaku was howling now, screaming to be let out. Gaara understood how he felt. He couldn't hear it, but he could feel it. Through his closed eyelids, he could also pick out a faint green glow surrounding fierce blue ones that kept on twisting around slowly and growing brighter.

He could hear the steady drip of something now, and the whooshing of air. The longer he stayed there, listening, the more the air began to sound like hollow and hoarse screams and roars. His back was soaked and cold, and the mass of chakra grew closer. He could feel something directly above him, and chakra to his left and right.

Almost instantly afterwards, the chakra came crashing down, suffocating him and causing Shukaku to screech more fiercely. It was pressing down on him from all directions, and he felt as if he were trapped in his own sand coffin attack. He was cold all over. He could recall that the feeling was similar to a mission he went on once, where he had been thrown deep underwater. This time, the feeling was multiplied by a hundredfold. It felt like the strange chakra was seeping into every pore and mingling with his own.

His entire body ached badly, and he could feel the chakra glob about under him and lift him off of the damp floor. His ears were ringing from the sound of the chakra. He floated in place for a while before he found himself back in the desert, standing in front of a tall metal fence.

"What's going on dude?! What're those things coming? No, get it away container!" screeched the crazed tanuki, banging against the fence with all his might.

Gaara simply turned around and ignoring the one-tail, looked around behind him into the distance. As usual, he only saw the endless stretch of sand in all directions and the blindingly bright sky with no sun.

_No, there's something else here... is that... what is that blue thing in the distance?_

Upon closer inspection, the red haired shinobi could see a line of blue lines, writhing over and over each other. There were around nine of those chakra things, coming increasingly closer and closer at an alarming pace. they were rustling, shoving and manoeuvring their way through the flat sand, kicking up particles and leaving the horizon burred.

"Hey, are you listening? HEY! I told you to let me out! Damn you, LISTEN TO ME!"

Gaara continued watching the chakra coils get closer, not moving a step. Even if he tried to move back to his own conscious and not in here, there would be no change. It would be better to simply stay here, aware about the incoming chakra things.

There was not much to do, and Gaara would not stand for simply wasting his time away in his unconscious state. So he thought; what is the Akatsuki's purpose? They captured him, the container of the first tailed beast. Then, instead of directly killing him, they had brought him somewhere and proceeded to immerse him in some strange chakra.

The place where his eye brows should have been drew together as a look of concern spread across his face. He had an idea as to what they were trying to do, but for what purpose? Power seemed to be the most probable answer as of the moment.

_They are trying to extract Shukaku from me. They will have to seal him somewhere, unless they plan on killing him. They may not stop here though... could they have already caught some other tailed beasts? It's likely; their respective village would not wish to tell others that they lost a powerful... asset. _

_At the very least though, I do not think that they will attack the Sunagakure anymore since they achieved their goal and captured me... But that may just be wishful thinking. _

The pressure was nearing, and even in his inner mindscape, he was beginning to have difficulty breathing. Gaara wondered if they could be destroyed. Lifting a hand, the sand ahead of him began to rise. Another motion and the sand burst forwards, towards the pile of wiggling chakra. The things didn't even attempt to move away from the attack; they simply absorbed the sand and continued moving.

_There will always be a limit to how much it can absorb. _

It was a reasonable theory. Gaara made it so that even more sand from before rose up, poised to swallow up the invader. Unbeknownst to him though, was that the chakra was meant to seal more than just the first-tail and would successfully steal all of the jinchuuriki's and tailed beast's chakra easily. Bringing his hand down, the sand crashed onto the writhing mass of blue chakra. For a moment, nothing happened.

The dust began to settle, and still nothing happened. As this was the Kazekage's own mind though, he knew better. He could feel his and Shukaku's sand and chakra being steadily drained. When so much sand was drained that the advancing mass could be seen again, Gaara frown slightly. How much more chakra would it need before it overflowed?

He could see the slithering mass split into nine separate streaks, each one moving along an invisible circumference and closing off all escape points. Not that there were any to begin with. All the while the screeches from behind him overlapped with the increasingly louder sounds of the chakra moving closer. Soon enough, the hollow-wind sound would cover even Shukaku's cries.

Keeping his back to Shukaku, eyes trained on the trail of blue ahead of him, he said, "What is that?"

"Don't ask me! Why don't you get me out instead? I can't... I WON'T be jammed into another prison!" replied Shukaku. He had not stopped throwing himself against the sturdy fence even once.

_Another prison? _

That would confirm what they were doing. Of course, it was useless to understand that; the important thing was the situation at hand; how was he to escape the chakra?

Said chakra was close enough for Gaara to make out as a long and thick line of chakra with a dragon head on the top of each. The top of their mouths resembled the sharp beak of a parrot, and two small horns jutted out from both sides of the top of their heads. Their jaws were lined with fangs, a sharp as kunai. Even though it seemed as though they were simply made of smoothly flowing water, the red haired shinobi knew that it was pure chakra.

They continued to inch closer and closer. He had already realized that even if he purposely gave chakra to the chakra dragons, it wouldn't affect anything. So now he stood, arms crossed, watching as his mental desert was absorbed by the dragons every time they passed by the sand.

He could feel himself becoming more and more tired; he had begun to lose hope of ever escaping alive. Shukaku was more crazed than he had ever been, and louder still. Even so, the sand continued to disappear, and the dragons drew nearer.

_What will happen when all the sand... my chakra disappears? Will I disappear as well once the chakra passes me? _

He didn't know how much time had passed since he had first lost consciousness. He didn't know how Sunagakure was doing currently. He didn't know how much time he had left before he faded away as well.

Soon enough, the nearest dragon was but a few meters away from Gaara. His mental body was aching terribly as well now, and his breathing was harsh and deep. He could see the dragon nearest to him snapping its jaws open and shut, all the while swiveling slightly on its path. Almost directly beside him, the dragon's head stood two feet above Gaara.

He could always move backwards and press himself against Shukaku's fence, but that wouldn't help much as Shukaku's tackling of the metal object would just make the Kazekage fly forwards, possibly into the path of one of the dragons.

Finally, the dragon's head was directly beside him. As it passed by him, he could feel the whoosh of wind, causing his hair to dance around madly on his head and him to squint his eyes. He brought up two arms to block against the wind and placed one foot behind himself for better balance. Gaara didn't feel himself get sucked into the dragon like his sand and chakra though. Instead, it felt as if there was a magnet pulling on his body in both directions. His head swarmed, but he managed to stay standing.

Up ahead of him, he couldn't see the end of the dragon's body, as if it went on infinitely. From the bottom of his eye, he could see the sand being pulled out from under his feet, leaving a plain white surface, the same colour and shade as the sky.

Even with all his training as a ninja, he still had a bit of trouble turning around to continue watching the dragon that had just passed him hone in on the fence where Shukaku was.

If he had to be honest, Gaara wasn't sure if he wanted those dragons to touch the one-tail or not. There was an endless amount of possibilities as to what could happen once the two large masses of chakra made contact.

"Stay away! Stay away I tell ya! Oi, get the hell away from me!" hollered Shukaku. He stopped slamming at the fences as the first dragon made contact with the cage and howled in rage instead, the sand booming through the rest of the relatively silent landscape - save the ragged breathing of Gaara and the whooshing of the dragons, of course.

Gaara found that a tiny part of him was still in panic, though he felt no burst of adrenaline that should have accompanied the sensation. He took one wary step forwards towards the cage.

"GET OUT, LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE. DAMN YOU, SON OF A- NO! STOP!" screeched the Tanuki, panicking as he quickly found himself surrounded. The dragons hovered around the One-tail. Shukaku had risen up on his hind legs and was brandishing his arms dangerously towards the dragons. He would continuously turn around as if that would allow him to see all nine dragons at the same time. His tail thrashed around, kicking up whatever sand was surrounding him.

Then they struck. The nine dragons closed in on their prey, quickly wrapping up the thrashing beast. Shukaku's furious howls were drowned out by a loud sucking. His cries were muffled as one of the dragons slithered over his mouth. The One-tail glared down at it, malevolent yellow eyes hazy with blood thirst and rage. The chakra animals responded by merging together, trapping the powerful tanuki within a large blob of chakra.

The sand inside the cage and closest to Shukaku disappeared as well, the moment the dragons passed over it. Gaara watched, entranced by the sight.

_It's successfully subduing Shukaku. Is that good? A forceful extraction... No, this is not good. The One-tail's power is devastating; if Akatsuki were to successfully take the One-tail... _

Yet even though Gaara knew that he couldn't allow Akatsuki to have such a powerful asset on its side, Gaara couldn't do anything; he could feel Shukaku's massive chakra reserves being sucked away quickly. He himself had a lot less than the beast. Not only that, but there were no weapons or sand for him to control. On top of it all, he was lightheaded and losing strength.

_What can I do...? It's chakra is being taken quickly... It will be gone and in their hands soon. What? ..._

He barely registered the feeling earlier, too occupied with scouring his brain for ideas as to what he could do next. Not only that, but he was mesmerized by the fact that the large and terrifying beast's thrashing became weaker increasingly fast. Now though, he felt as if something was slowly weighing him down, along with the contradictory feeling his mental self was experiencing. Was this what his external body was feeling at the moment as well?

Shukaku's struggles were slowing down, and his mouth was no longer moving in an attempt to curse at his opponent.

In a few more moments, Shukaku stopped moving all together in an attempt to listen to his logical side and stop wasting energy. Instead, he settled for trying to scamper towards the fence. To his anger and dismay, he couldn't do so; the chakra had lifted the beast off of the ground, and every time he tried to move away from his current spot, he'd simply feel the intruding chakra push him back into the center of the glob of phantom thieves.

Eventually, Shukaku began to pick up his earlier habit of attempting to fling the whooshing and endless mass off of himself. Gaara watched as the Shukaku's swaying tail began to droop, and his limbs become sluggish in their movement. He did not like Shukaku in the least, but he also did not want him to be taken. The thing was though, Gaara did not know how to stop his night time tormentor from being extracted.

Then Gaara remembered something that he heard before.

_"I'm not gonna run awa; I never go back on my word! That's my nindo: my ninja way!" yelled out a blond haired ninja, a determined look in his eyes and grin. _

Shukaku charged up a tailed beast bomb in front of his gapping mouth only for it to be absorbed as quickly as it was created.

_Sorry, Naruto. I cannot follow your example and persevere. Sunagakure... Kankurou, Temari, Baki... I am sorry... not just for this time, but for all the times I've hurt you in the past. _

Gaara knew that there was no more hope. He couldn't even go down fighting now. His limbs seemed to be attracted to the floor, yet he felt some sort of emptiness inside of him. Hollow, even. He dropped down onto a knee and glanced at Shukaku. The large beast looked as if he were melting, parts of it floating off and around the blob of blue chakra.

The next time Gaara looked at Shukaku, he caught a glimpse of its crazed eye before that too, melded into the chakra. What was once a large beast was now a pool of limp chakra, quickly mixing with the blue chakra. Once the dirty yellow of Shukaku's chakra had completely blended into the blue, the blob of blue chakra wasted no time in separating back into nine, hazy blue dragon heads. Each head shot backwards, as if their bodies were being yanked back. The dragon that had passed him earlier passed him again, and Gaara felt - if possible - heavier than before. His eyelids dropped down, and he was aware of the blue glow becoming increasingly farther and farther.

He forced an eye open one last time for a few seconds, before it snapped back down along with his body. His energy was spent, although in those few seconds of vision, Gaara could only see a blue dot in the distance.

_It is over..._

Shukaku was gone; he still wasn't sure if that was good or bad, though he was heavily leaning on it being bad. His sand was gone, as was his chakra; that for sure, he knew was bad. A memory from a time a long ago, when his father was still alive, passed through his mind fleetingly. He had looked sternly at Gaara, arms crossed as he explained how once a shinobi lost their chakra, they would be dead.

_Am I... dead?_

Then, the weight completely disappeared from his body, freeing him of his burden. Gaara could move again, and he opened his eyes to a barren scene, filled with nothing but whiteness, not a single grain of sand in sight. Slowly though, the ground began to morph into that of a dry and cracked floor.

He felt light, as if he could fly or even be blown away by the smallest gust of wind, yet he wasn't afraid. Somehow, he knew nothing could happen to him anymore now. He couldn't even tell why he had felt so helpless before.

_What had I have been afraid of? What had made me feel so helpless earlier? _

Gaara was confused. He tried to recall what - he was sure _something_ had done it - caused his earlier feelings of weakness. He then came across another predicament though; what had even happened? Gaara shrugged it off.

_It no longer matters. _

Why was he worrying about it anyways? The red haired shinobi felt light and content. Like nothing bad could happen. There was a small nudging at the back of his head, something that was definitely urging him to... to what? He didn't know and frankly, he didn't care anymore. He was glad and free.

It didn't matter that he didn't remember, nor the fact that all he could see for miles all around was a bright light and dry floor. He was happy. He didn't know how long he was lost within his own land of bliss. It could have been hours, years, decades, centuries, or even just a second. He didn't understand, but he found that he didn't want to understand.

There he stayed, until something finally appeared in his content dream. He tranquilly watched the thing in the distance approach. As it came closer, he could make out that it was a person. Who? Who had decided to join him? Was the person here to keep him company?

Gaara stayed still, waiting for her to get closer. He could feel something bubbling up within him. Was it childish excitement? If that was what it was, then that was what Gaara felt. He watched, waiting eagerly for the person to come closer. Could she be wanting to talk to him?

He took a step forwards, his white sash brushing past his dark shinobi pants. The girl came to an abrupt stop twenty meters away from Gaara. This was when Gaara was confused; did she expect them to shout their messages instead? He frowned slightly and crossed his arms across his chest. At this point, the girl continued to merely look at him. She didn't move forwards or back, or even open her mouth to speak.

Gaara began to feel slightly uncomfortable. Why wasn't she coming closer? Why was she just staring at him like that? He wanted to ask her what she was doing, but he couldn't. Something was telling him not to. Even so though, he did the next best thing. He took one step forward and reached one hand up in her direction.

She in return, took a step back as well. Her blank expression from earlier changed into one of fear, and she took another step back.

_Why? Why does it look like she's afraid of me? _

He slowly lowered his hand and continued to regard her. He stayed where he was, feeling the lightness he had felt earlier begin to disperse.

Another boy appeared, running up to the girl. The new boy placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke to her, but Gaara couldn't tell what he was saying. She responded back, and then the boy turned to face Gaara. They locked eyes, but didn't. It was as if the other boy was looking in and _behind_ his eyes, rather than looking _at_ his eyes. Then he too, backed away, stumbling as his eyes widened.

_Is he... afraid of me as well?_

He felt his mouth open slightly as he tried to ask them why they were afraid of him. He quickly closed his mouth again when another group of kids ran up to the first two. The same thing happened, and they stared at Gaara, fear in their expressions.

_Why? Why are they afraid of me?_

The red haired boy took a tentative step forwards, sending the group of kids to stagger back a few more steps, increasing the distance even more. What was happening? No; _why _was this happening? He drew in a long breath and watched the group of cowering kids his around his age. What was he supposed to do?

All the while, the rest of the surrounding was still as bright as ever, the place still silent save for his own breathing. He could see the kids up ahead rustling restlessly, but he couldn't hear them. The silence was beginning to press down on him.

_Talk to me... Why aren't you talking...?!_

He could have been frantic inside, but he never moved. He just stared back at them. He wanted to walk up to them though; converse with them. Maybe it was the right decision, maybe it was the wrong decision. He took a step forwards, and they fled into the crowd behind them.

_No, don't go!_

He took a small step forwards, eyes wide in confusion and rejection. His beige poncho flapped around his arms. The group merely watched him, looks of disgust and fear splattered on their faces. Their lips were curled up in a sneer, yet their eyes held fear and loathing. He took another hesitant step forwards. The crowd took two steps back. His lower lip trembled as he realized that for every step he walked closer, they took twice as much back.

_What did I do? Why are you all looking at me like that? Don't leave me!_

He took another step, and another, and yet another. He ran forwards, then stopped as he saw the crowd not only get farther, but grow larger and taller.

_Wait! Don't... don't leave me alone... _

Gaara stayed still and watched the crowd off people in the distance. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open a bit as he looked longingly at forlornly at the crowd. His arms hung limp at his sides. Very, very slowly, he sunk down into a crouch. From the crouch, he rolled back a bit so that he ended up sitting, his knees tucked under his arms in front of him. He felt terrible. He felt rejected. He felt alone.

He looked away from the crowd, switching his gaze to his knees instead. His sight began to waver as he continued staring despairingly at his knees. There was a pressure from deep inside his chest, threatening to burst out. All the while, Gaara was surrounded by the silent and scornful crowd.

His body trembled slightly as a warm liquid began to spill out of his eyes. Why? Why was this happening? What did he do to deserve feeling like this?

"nnngh..." He brought up his fists to his eyes and rubbed them, trying to stem the flow that his eyelids couldn't stop.

Gaara bit his lower and fought back outright wailing.

_Why? I don't want to be alone... I just want to be accepted... Why does everyone run from me..._

The tears continued streaming down his cheeks, matting the tips of his short red hair when his small hands tried to move the tears to the side. There he sat, knees touching his chest and hands rubbing the sides of his eyes as his body was wracked with sobs.

He wanted to be accepted, to have a friend. Why couldn't he just have that? That was all he wanted... He didn't even notice when the cloud dissipated into thin air, leaving Gaara completely alone in the barren landscape. He didn't notice when his surroundings began to gradually fade, one by one. He didn't notice when his own self awareness disappeared. He never noticed that he was gone.

* * *

"...ra... Gaara... Gaara!"

Suddenly, it was as if he had just woken up from a quick nap. It was as if he had switched bodies, like how the point of view of one changes in a dream. He looked downwards and glanced at the air in front of him, sight blurred. After a while though, he could see clearly the dry and cracked ground in front of him. His eyes were half closed, tired.

_Who... is it...? ...who... are you calling?_

A shape slowly appeared where he was looking; a hand. Who's hand was it? He could feel something happening, and then the hand clenched, rustling the dark sleeve just above the wrist.

_Oh... It's my hand again..._

Gaara slowly closed his hand till it was in a fist. From behind it, he caught a glimpse of something. What...

_My hand... me...?_

He stared blankly at the small figure surrounded by cracked ground in the distance. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel. He took in the figure - his younger self's - appearance: his gourd, his hunched position, his short red hair, his still beige poncho.

Slowly, he felt himself getting drawn in, as if he were leaving his current self and drifting slowly out of his body towards his younger version. The younger Gaara got closer and closer.

_Me... Who... am I...? I'm... _

He got to the point where he no longer knew whether he was simply spectating his younger self, or was actually the younger red haired boy. His view shifted from himself to the ground, and there he stared, tears still leaking out. Until he felt a warm hand clasp on firmly and gently on his left shoulder. His eyes widened in surprise and shock, and his mouth opened, slightly disbelievingly.

_Who..._

His eyes met the face of a boy not much older than him with blindingly loud blonde hair with a cheerful smile plastered onto his face. His eyes locked with the bright sapphire of the other boy's, and he slowly let his hands drop away from his face.

_I'm... I am... _

"...Gaara..." answered the whiskered boy, looking at him tiredly yet gently. "Gaara."

The whiskered, blonde haired boy began to grow. Gaara was still staring dumbly at the boy, barely even noticing the scene changing as well. Then he blinked and his world grew bright; a pleasant brightness. The other boy continued watching Gaara, eyes full of relief, happiness, and fatigue.

Gaara's eyes slowly began to widen as he continued watching the boy, uttering out a soft and disbelieving name instinctively. "...Naruto"

Naruto grinned back at him. Gaara slowly slid his eyes left and right, in sync with his turning head. His eyes widened even more. Was this all an illusion? Was he dreaming? The same feeling of something wanting to burst out from deep within his chest arrived again, only it felt slightly different. All around him, amidst the bright blue sky and lush grass, were people. People looking at him with relieved and happy expressions. Worrying about him. Accepting him.

"This is..." he murmured disbelievingly. He had never thought that there would be a day when this would happen, yet it was, right now, in front of his own eyes.

"Every came rushing... just to save you, Gaara," replied Naruto, smiling that tired and relieved foxy grin of his.

Gaara continued watching, open mouthed and wide eyed, absorbing the sight and the sounds. Then he finally tore his gaze away from the cheering crowds and back to Naruto's bright blue eyes, the red haired boy's eyes voicing the question he didn't say. Naruto's reply was quiet, as he squeezed Gaara's shoulder reassuringly, smile still on his face.

"Welcome back, Gaara."

* * *

**A/N:**

**Well, I'm done. Man, this is the first story that is actually not a five page kind of thing that I finished. I hope you enjoyed reading this. I also hope that this was written to your satisfaction, ilovemyboys :) **


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